Photo Flash: Barbara Walsh, Stephanie D'Abruzzo in Sold-Out Benefit Reading

Broadway stars Barbara Walsh (Company) and Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Avenue Q) performed in a sold-out benefit reading of A. R. Gurney's classic play, The Dining Room. Also in the cast were Bill Connington (Zombie), David M. Lutken, (Inherit the Wind), AnnMarie Benedict (Robeson) and Tony Wolf (The Action Room).

The director was Dan Cordle. The reading took place at the New York Society of Colonial Dames Museum , at 215 East 71st Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Barbara Walsh won the Drama Desk Award, and was nominated for a Tony Award for her work in Falsettos on Broadway. She appeared in the J ohn Doyle production of Company, for which she received a Drama Desk nomination. Stephanie D'Abruzzo was nominated for a Tony Award for Avenue Q, and won a Theater World Award. She also has appeared in the musical Carnival. Bill Connington adapted the Joyce Carol Oates novella Zombie into an award-winning solo play he performed Off-Broadway. He reprised his role in an award-winning short film. Zombie will be shot next year as a feature film. David M. Lutken has performed on Broadway in Ring of Fire, and The Civil War. AnnMarie Benedict has appeared in Robeson, and the Joyce Carol Oates play I Stand Before You Naked. Tony Wolf has appeared in Forever Plaid and is the co-host/producer of The Action Room. Dan Cordle just directed his first feature film, Possession.

A.R. Gurneyis a respected and prolific playwright who often writes about what has been called "WASP culture" and its eventual decline in power. The Dining Room is one of Gurney's most popular plays, and has been called, "A comedy of manners about what it means to be a WASP." One of Gurney's most recent plays is The Grand Manner, which was produced last year at Lincoln Center. He is a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Van Cortlandt House Museum is located in Van Cortlandt Park, in the Bronx. The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America is a national membership society that is dedicated to educating children about life in Colonial America, and helping to preserve historically significant properties around the country. Van Cortlandt House was built in 1748, and was the headquarters of General George Washington in the Battle of White Plains.